Mobile network operators (MNOs) add the largest value to Internet of Things value chain by providing the last mile wireless connectivity for Voice, Data and Machine-to-Machine(M2M) communications. This can be done in several ways – either by having a dedicated M2M gateway (or APN/Internet Gateways) or by creating an MVNE (Mobile Virtual Network Enabler) architecture that allows quick on-boarding (provisioning) with special SIMs (subscriber identity module) and software.

Several functions as stated below can be re-used by the following verticals: Connected Vehicle; Smart Grid; eHealth; and Connected Home. These are some common M2M service layer functions were necessary for their respective vertical segment and to then converge on those common functions as the components for a “Common M2M Service Layer” capability, which are provided by MNOs as a service for M2M subscribers. Machine-to-Machine communication is an essential part of the IoT concept, due to the fact..

IoT is crossing the chasm as we speak, slowly but in an ubiquitous way. A very good use case in play today is the hundreds of thousands of smart sensors along the San Andreas fault in the Bay Area that monitor 24/7 the movement of the fault or the thousands of sensors on the Golden Gate bridge that measure the effects of traffic and weather.

But Seriously to use IoT to it’s full potential we will need Big Data – to collect, learn and decide all near realtime. IoT + Big Data (and Cloud) seem to be made for each other as we utilize the machine learning algorithms to make calculated decisions in real time.

Gartner’s Hype Cycle for the Internet of Things, 2014 , estimates that that IoT will reach the ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations’ in 5 years to 10 years. Before we get there we have to head through the Trough of Disillusionment, which we believe will leave a number of companies going out of business or being absorbed.

LTE services so far have been launched 124 countries around the world (Q4 2014), and the number of the LTE subscribers reached around 373 million and still counting (source: GSA). This accounts for 5.3% of mobile subscribers and has a long way to go.

Nevertheless, it has been already a year since ITU discussed 5G as a topic after some world’s leading countries and companies in the mobile industry first raised concerns regarding the necessity of 5G standardization.

A typical standardization process of IMT at ITU starts with discussing of visions, followed by recommending visions including some key objectives (parameters). For example, for IMT-Advanced (4G) standardization, ITU set a goal of up to approximately 100Mbps for high mobility such as mobile access and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for low mobility such as nomadic/local wireless access through Recommendation ITU-R M.1645, to encourage research and investigation in the industry. (more…)..

Over the last few months we saw two big announcements for Telecom consolidation in the US from the 3rd and 4th largest carriers. Is this a surprise or what? By all means it is not – I have been busy lately studying demand and supply curves for my micro-economics class (part of my MBA program) and viola – this all makes perfect sense! It is all due to the economy of scale – the larger the firm is the better it is able to supply the service needed at a better rate (meaning lesser dollars!). The one graphic that is always hurting the budgets for carriers is the ARPU distribution and the long tail economics.

So what will happen over the next few years is a change from selling voice and data for MNOs to service enablers. This requires several market plays which require – two main factors investment dollars and partnerships with several niche market players and this will allow MNOs to move into the VAS space. (more…)

I heard of OpenFlow three years ago while working for a WiMAX operator, but it never peaked my interest to read up on it till Nicra was acquired by VMware this year. This is when it occurred to me that this space of the network industry is gearing up for serious change a scenario which will impact Mobile ecosystem even on the edge. In contrast to the LAN, the WAN is staid. In the early 2000s, IT organizations began to move away from Frame Relay and ATM and adopt MPLS WAN services. However, up until now, the conventional wisdom in the IT industry has been that there isn’t a fundamentally new technology in development that will replace MPLS. A key consequence of that assumption is that, on a going-forward basis, IT organizations will have to build their WANs using a combination of MPLS and the Internet.

Software defined networks (SDN) have the potential to change the conventional wisdom about WANs. SDN isn’t a technology, but a way of building networks. Like many of the good commerc..

A recent development of Tekelec as the diameter supplier for T-Mobile LTE deployment has once again brought forth the discussion of control plane congestion and the operator readiness to address the issues. I have been working on this area for a long time and have seen the impact first hand on several customer outages. 3GPP and the Infrastructure vendors have come a long way since the days when the first smartphones changed the trend of user behavior and network congestion. It is not just an improvement on the ‘plumbing’ of smart pipes but the overall change end-to-end that has helped mitigate many problems, both from a signaling as well as performance. QOE (quality of experience) plays a big role in network planning and management today, as users now demand more from a handset/tablet than ever before. Signaling plane control gives the operator a better leverage and control over the various elements of the network that handles customer management and quality of service along with it…

UI/UX Design: Application interface and interaction is something that users including yours truly gets going on things like the position and location of the keys on the smartphone screen, having difficulty with resizing or webpage scrolling, or agreeing with built-in dictionary items, or about inefficient manual input (e.g., the “fat finger” problem). Most users prefer interacting with a web-based interface of particular applications (e.g., Facebook) than with its widget.

Some time back I had an opportunity to speak with a technology pioneer, who helped introduce the best multi-media device – the iPhone on AT&T. We went into the technical details of the experiences, the paradigm shift that never happened and the impending “data tsunami” that is happening as we speak. I have been blogging about this very data explosion for a long time now. I have been a traffic planner for the last 5-6 years of my career as a telecom engineer. I have seen the evolution of wireless networks from a voice centric GSM to a data centric-LTE, a shift in the thought processes of the big-iron telco companies that have shaped the way we communicate and interact with the world. MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) are in the cross hairs of technology evolution, data pipes are filling up faster that they can build. I monitor capacity at the Radio access side for an operator on a day-to-day basis, take my word for it – we ding your data experience at the cost o..

With Super Bowl XLVI around the corner, as a wireless engineer I always wait with bated for the performance of the network. How many calls did we drop? What was the congestion and customer satisfaction? How did we fare against other operators? Well these and more questions will always be on my mind as I have worked across different networks in the US. I still remember the days when COWs (cell on wheels) were the only option, but DAS (Distributed Antenna System) has come to the rescue. Businesses are finding a growing demand to provide a wide variety of wireless technologies in the indoor space today with coverage in stadiums and Casinos leading the need. Wireless cellular customers depend on the mobility of their devices wherever they go. There is a necessity for DAS systems with the breadth of design requirements that allow it to carry a wide range of technologies and to do it well. Both the venue owners and wireless carriers wish to provide their customers and occupants with a sati..

Like most guys I love my car (after my gadgets & my Triumph) and like most of you I drool at the prospect of getting a car that will talk to me and connect all the pieces together. As a child, the first car that caught my imagination was Herbie (the wonderful little Bug), and its adventures. I make it a point annually to take my son to local car shows so that when he grows up he learns to appreciate the fact that fast cars are meant to be revered! But the connected car is something very special it connects what I do as a wireless engineer to what I love as a driver! So what is a connected car, will it talk to you? Listen to your commands and maybe drive for you – if you wait for say 10 years Google will make them and make them cheaper for you to actually get one. So my grandchildren will ask me how we ever lived without a self-driven car ever. (more…)

Traditionally 3GPP standard based technologies dominate in the WAN and MAN technology landscape. In MAN segment, WiMAX is used to some extent, which is an IEEE standard (IEEE802.16 *) based technology. It did not get traction world-wide. In t..

Wireless Industry measures Churn an important KPI(key performance indicator) – that defines customer satisfaction and Operator performance. One of the biggest causes of churn is user experience or quality of user experience (QoE) and is used to describe the perception of end-users on how usable the services are. QoS (Quality of Service) on the other hand, describes the ability of the network to provide a service with an assured service level. I..

A recent media article stating that Steve Jobs wanted to build an unlicensed network for the iPhone peaked my interest on speaking about unlicensed spectrum and the way it has been carved out by the FCC. I have always been against licensed spectrum making wireless expensive. The recent auctions both AWS and 700MHz have shown that it is all but a numbers game and deeper the pockets of the Operator the more spectrum they have are able to garner. Spectrum has been called the oxygen for wireless operators and in many ways it is as all commercial operators. Recognizing this potential the Obama administration and the FCC has made plans to make available 300 MHz of new spectrum over 5 years and 500 MHz over the next 10 years, which is almost, doubles the 547 MHz of spectrum that we license out today.

As consumers race to embrace all that wireless broadband connectivity has to offer and U.S. mobile innovation continues to advance at an astounding pace, there is a clear and compelling nati..

Having seen the evolution of wireless from voice-centric to data-centric I can truly say that the spotlight now lies on data. And who would have thought a few years ago that the tipping point would come from apple. Apple products have done to wireless ecosystem what the warm temperatures of waters in Gulf of Mexico do to hurricanes in the gulf coast. I am an engineer by profession but all my theories of radio propagation, design principles, erlang B principles all stop to bow before the devices that are unleashed today on our networks! Wireless has become the utility like PG&E. And the pipes in networks are clogging. They are filling up faster than can be laid. Have we all become bandwidth hogs? What are we doing today that we never did in the past. One example I have from my own life – I update my Facebook status from phone, tweet every now and then, send an MMS to my circle. It is the ‘my’ profile that has changed, I used to maybe browse on my phone, send emails from Blac..

Mobile networks of today will evolve to become the Cloud providers of tomorrow. What does a cloud provider mean? It means that the networks of the future will become your only source for – Internet, TV, Cellular service – voice and data, home automation, Car connectivity and so much more. Networks of today have an inherent advantage they have the existing infrastructure like cell towers, the backhaul and other services in place to compete tomorrow. How many providers will we have? My guess is as good as yours. We will have a duopoly with Verizon and AT&T from existing carriers; the smaller carriers will no longer matter. Their existence as bottom-feeders will always be there for Pre-paid plans and serving customers for entry-level voice and data plans and rural carriers. Cable companies like Comcast, Roadrunner, Qwest, etc will exist either in a partnership or will merge with the wireless giants.

That will depend on the evolution of the cloud architectures and how users evolve..

Distributed Node-B architecture called Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) is the new paradigm in base stations architecture that aims to reduce the number of cell sites while increasing the base station deployment density bypassing some of the zoning and construction hurdles to brining up new sites on-air. Metro cities like NY, LA and SFO already have a high density of Cell towers. As LTE and more complex wireless technologies are being deployed – would it not make sense to re-use and harness the existing infrastructure?

The concept of the Cloud RAN comes with a new architecture that breaks down the base station into a Base Unit (BU) – a digital unit that implements the MAC PHY and AAS (Antenna Array System) functionality, and the Remote Radio Head (RRH) that obtains the digital (optical) signals, converts digital signals to analog, amplifies the power, and sends the actual transmission. By making the RRH an active unit capable of converting from analog to digital, operators c..

Several different ways – there are clear trends and paths that need to be explored and engaged by the MNOs. Are they doing it? Clearly they are but is the industry looking to benefit out it. Obviously to a layman it is not visible but the Industry has taken a winding road that has lead to the one of the most vibrant parts of the US economy. If we look at just look the top 10 trends put out by CTIA below it shows why we are where we are today…

With the release of the FCC report last month on the outlook for wireless for the next year, the picture doesn’t seem to be as dismal as so many other sectors like Housing, Banking etc. But the last three years have made an impact that will be here to stay and has shaped the way people spend and MNOs spend their budgets. As an engineer who has worked at three levels – Corporate, Regional and Markets I understand the decisions that are made solely based on economic merits that impact the network and the customers. Understanding the economics is harder for me as an engineer as technological advantages and not short-term cash flow savings make sense in a longer run. But economics play a bigger role than any engineering marvel as most MNOs are for-profit organizations and run solely based on ARPU, Churn and EBIDTA (Interest before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization). The current stagflation and recession has taken a toll on the mindset of the customer and their spending habit..

The other day when I saw this graphic in WSJ it reminded me, of a time when I was starting out in the field of Telecom as a junior engineer, the world look so brilliant. I could go work for so many Operators – wireless and wired! The world was going wireless, GSM was new to India and Industry captains were predicting a multi-fold growth. While in the US it was CDMA vs GSM – two very strong contenders that were changing the way the world was communicating, while the cola wars were dominating the rest of the news and Billy Joel singing – “we didn’t start the Fire” !
Economic Cycles:

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